I'm a long time lurker and I see the occasional comment talking about how Bitcoin isn't very "usable". Obviously making small frequent purchases isn't ideal. Nevertheless, I thought my experience might be interesting for some and I'm also open to ideas to help me optimize my process. I live in a developing county but the majority of my business is done with clients abroad. (primarily the US).
Receiving money has always been a big big big pain. Straight forward services like PayPal, Venmo, CashApp, Revolut, etc don't work here.
Bank transfers are the obviouse choice but fees are usually high and bank exchange rates are a scam. Some smaller banks don't always support transfers to my country.
Earlier this year I signed a retainer client and we started figuring out the best way for me to get the regular payments I'm owed.
Initially, we used Xoom, a payment service similar to Western Union where client makes transfer and I have to go to a local physical location (a bank in my case) to recieve the cash.
This meant I had to set aside 2-3 hours of driving back and forth and waiting patiently for the bank to ping another branch, verify my ID, verify the transfer, etc. and it cost me 3% of my payment.
Next we tried Payoneer. 3% overall fee as well but took a week for me to get the money in my bank account.
Finally, client and I discussed using Bitcoin. Both of us were already familiar with it so it was worth a shot.
Process goes as follows: - Client buys Bitcoin on Coinbase and sends it to my wallet - Bitcoin shows up immediately and takes maybe 10-20 minutes to get 3+ confirmations. - I HODL some and transfer the rest to Localbitcoins where I have a regular "dealer" who has a local bank transfer waiting for me. - Transfer arrives immediately because it's between accounts within the same bank.
The best thing is, the overall fee is around 3%... extra, to me!
Bitcoin is a little more expensive here on Localbitcoins than on Coinbase (very recently not the case anymore).
This process is far from perfect and I'm open to any suggestions on how to improve it.
I chose to share it here because it has really been a great and empowering experience for me. I feel in control on my business's money in a way I never have before.
I'm not at the mercy of some bank and their paralyzing bureaucracy.
I think this new age of financial globalization Bitcoin is sheepherding in is something that a lot of people in the "west" forget. The US and Europe are well connected by traditional financial networks which, I believe, makes it a little harder to appreciate the true democratic decentralization and empowerment Bitcoin provides.
Forgive me for rambling on and on, I hope anyone finds this worth the read.
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